My little Miss Sevenoaks
by SakiJune
Summary: Pomona is ten when she meets the man of her life. But she will have to wait, of course... FFPS, like almost everything I write.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All characters, but Vertumnus and Nixie, are by JKR.

Author's Notes: Sevenoaks is a district (and a town) of Kent, like Mid-Beds is short for Mid-Bedfordshire. They say that Kent is the Garden of England, so I think it's likely 'Mona was born there, and about Dedalus, well, it's canon. And there is a town in the Mid-Beds called Flitwick, so I have always thought he was born around there...  
Thanks to Di, who betaed it...

DEDICATED TO OSUSprinks.

* * *

**Sevenoaks, Kent, 1949**

"The Mid-Beds champion?" he mumbled, staring at the sports page of the Prophet. "It's a hard row to hoe, but Mr. Violet will dig it..."  
"_I_ will hoe in the orchards, Daddy, stay here and don't get tired, you and Mr. Violet," his little girl prattled. "We'll have tomatoes and cabbages ready sooo soon!"  
Vertumnus Sprout laughed, but he was touched. She was so sweet. She looked so much like her mother.  
"Forget that. I didn't mean... no, 'Mona, you _won't_ get dirty again! Mr. Violet... er, Mr. Diggle is coming for dinner." He pushed the newspaper away and tried to fix her hair a little. "Nixie will help you to choose a nice dress."  
She ran out the room, screaming for their house-elf.

"Mr. Diggle is always dressed in violet... not purple or lavender or lilac, I mean... this is why they call him Mr. Violet, you know. He's nice. He challenges people casting charms with his miiiighty wand and he always overcomes!"  
"Please stay still, Miss Sprout, how can Nixie put your shoes on, if you keep swinging your legs this way?" the elf said patiently.  
She stopped moving, but went on talking. "What are _the midbeds_? Something where you sleep in the middle?"  
Nixie was born in that house and she had never left the district of Sevenoaks, so she was not able to answer that question. "Ask your father. He knows everything, Nixie guesses."

Yes, her father knew everything and he was great, and Mr. Diggle was very nice and young and smart. Nixie was kind and they were fond of each other; she did not think of her as an elf, but as her dear nanny. But she felt alone, every day more. She missed her mother and when it was dark and there was silence in her room, she remembered her, and she realized she would not come back again, and she started to cry...

_Daddy doesn't know that I sometimes cry. I'm his strong little girl._

At dinner, Mr. Diggle let her wear his hat and told a lot of funny stories. Then he and her father began discussing duels, and though she was told to go to bed, she stayed just out of the door listening. When she finally reached her room and slipped under the covers, she had learned a lot of things. First, _the Mid-Beds_ was a place somewhere else in England. Second, her father had gambled a lot of galleons on Mr. Diggle's win. Last but not least, he was going to take her along with him to see the match.

That night, she fell asleep without crying.

Sunday came, and as she woke up, she jumped out of bed and dressed up all by herself. Nixie was surprised, and she praised her.  
Vertumnus was brooding and he did not speak much at breakfast. He knew that a duel was not the best show for a nine-year-old child. But he was worried about 'Mona, and he thought that neither playing alone in the garden nor growing her little orchard all the time was the best for her. _She needs to know other people, before going to Hogwarts, or else she'll feel fearful and shy at school._

When they arrived in the hall of that strange building, invisible to Muggles, she immediately saw Mr. Violet, who was talking to another man, a little shorter than he, but more handsome.  
"You have no chances against me, Dedalus. I'm very sorry, because you're a friend of mine and I could hurt you very badly today... Why is a child wandering here all alone?"  
The Mid-Beds champion had a very strange voice, somewhat squeaking. But she liked him.  
"I'm not a child, sir. I am ten and I'll soon be at Hogwarts," she pointed out. "And I'm not wandering. I'm here with my father."  
"That tall bearded man reading the broadsheet over there," Dedalus said. "A good-hearted wizard, the best fellow I've ever..."  
"Daddy bet on him, and we both hope he will defeat you, _Mr. Mid-Beds_," Pomona chortled.  
The man looked really amused. He didn't need to stoop to talk to her: he was exactly the same height. He had frizzy red hair and glistening dark eyes.  
"What's your name, you witty girl?"  
"Sorry, sir. I didn't mean to be cheeky... I really don't care who's going to win..."  
He stretched a hand and ruffled her hair. He smiled. "I said you are witty, not that you are ill-mannered. I like people with a ready mind and a ready tongue. Maybe you'll be sorted in Ravenclaw, just like me. Do you like Chocolate Frogs?"  
Her mother, and then Nixie, had always told her to take nothing from strangers, and that man was not only a stranger: he was Mr. Diggle's challenger. But she liked him more and more. She lowered her eyes.  
"Well, I'll eat it in your place." He unwrapped it and simply held the chocolate in his hand. Then he swallowed it.  
She suddenly regretted having refused such a delicacy, and she looked so disappointed that he smiled again.  
"Oh, sorry, have you changed your mind?"  
She nodded. Dedalus was enjoying the scene, but then he checked his pocket watch. "Come on, are you ready to cut a poor figure, Flitwick?"  
"Shut up, Diggle. Here you are, _Miss Sevenoaks_."  
She laughed and thanked him. At that moment, Vertumnus walked near and took her by the hand. "Let them alone, 'Mona, they must go and prepare themselves. Well, boys, good luck," he added, wincing. "Both."

The frog jumped on the hat of a witch sitting before them. She tried to take it, but the woman turned, with a grumpy face. The movement of her head made the frog jump again, right in Pomona's hands.  
"So-sorry, madam."  
With her mouth full, she decided to take a look at the card, but the duel had just started. Her father cast a Shield Charm on her, to cover all eventualities. It was not infrequent for a defenceless spectator to be hit by a wandering spell. Definitely, it was not a good place for her. But she seemed to enjoy the match.  
"Go, go, go! Stun him!" she shouted, with her eyes sparkling.  
"Dedalus cannot stun him, it's forbidden," Vertumnus explained.  
"But I want Mr. Flitwick to stun Mr. Diggle!"  
He frowned, feeling something was changed. His daughter had opinions and fancies all of her own. She was growing up. This acknowledgement made him proud and sad at the same time. _Next year she'll be away. But she's already away, somehow..._

On their way back home, Vertumnus was really in a bad mood. He had lost his money. _And soon I will lose my little princess, too_, he thought.  
But Pomona was still excited for all what had happened that day. She almost forgot to check who was pictured on her card. "Helga Hufflepuff," she read. She looked nice. "Founder of Hufflepuff House. Daddy, you've been there, haven't you?"  
"True," was his answer "and it's likely you'll be sorted there too. Would you like to?"  
"Very much, Daddy! I'd _love_ to!" she said, and for the first time in her life she was lying.  
_Mr. Flitwick suggested me Ravenclaw House... and I feel he knows what's right for me._

But a year after, when she found that the man of her fancies had become a teacher, and, what's more, the Head of Ravenclaw, she changed her mind at once.  
When the Sorting Hat was placed on her head, she closed her eyes and prayed: _"Not Ravenclaw, not Ravenclaw!"_  
_"Why not?"_ the Hat asked. _"You have a big crush on..."_  
_"Shut up! He must become my husband, not my Head of House!"_  
_"Oooh, I've got it, Miss Sprout. Hufflepuff!"_

(to be continued)


	2. Chapter 2

She left behind all the noise and the singing in the Great Hall, and reached the last floor. There was silence, maybe too much - well, the war was over, it was time for peace and tears, not for clamour. Dead tired, she was on the point of going to bed, but suddenly she turned, she walked down the corridor and stopped at a door. She knocked.

"I'm not going to celebrate tonight, I won't join you!"

"Filius, I..."

"Leave me alone, I said!"

She slowly opened the door and stood at the treshold, wearing her night-gown and slippers. He was sitting in his armchair, throwing charmed darts at a board on the wall. It was clear that he, too, had cried. "Oh, it's you... forgive me. You can stay. Please."

"Minerva just told me that Dedalus has sent shooting stars all over the county."

This was the first sentence rising to her mouth, and it was a pretty trivial piece of news, but it was something bringing the two of them together.

He looked at the ceiling, pondering. "Maybe he doesn't know yet what's really happened, at what price we are free, I mean. Do you still remember? Fighting was just a game, at that time. Even a little girl like you could attend the show... But the war we've been through was such a horror, for my old eyes too."

She stared at him, not really surprised, but deeply moved. "You know, Filius, you've just knocked him out _again_. This is your best side."

He smiled sadly, caressing her with his eyes.

"Little Miss Sevenoaks..."

"I'm no more Miss Sevenoaks!"

"You'll always be." He got up, raised a hand to stroke her face. Despite herself, Pomona shivered a little.

"I know... I'll always be a child at your eyes. No matter I'm a colleague of yours. No matter I'm fifty, no matter my hair is greying... you still have that picture of a little curly girl stuck in your mind. Sometimes you act like I was your daughter... but you're not my father."

"I surely know that I am not. Your father was bigger than I, as far as I remember."

"Don't mock me. I'm a woman! And I can feel, I can..."

He suddenly kissed her lips.

"You can feel this, can you? I love you, I love you because you still have the heart of a child... after all these years... but all the same you had first to grow up and flourish, to have your experiences, and after all this, to come to me, if you still wished to!"

"I'm here."

"Yes, you're here, you've come at last. We've not been young together, but I don't think it matters. Tonight we have learned it's quite the same... so many people die in their prime. I've never been afraid of death. I'm afraid to wake up one day and realize I don't love life anymore, instead. But I know I'll always love my life, because I'll always love _you_."

Tears of joy ran on her cheeks, but she was ashamed to feel so excited and to let herself express that emotion...You-Know-Who was gone, but he had taken two lives along with him. It was all wrong, they shouldn't be there, flirting and snogging...

He kissed her again. No, it was not wrong _at all_. And he explained her why.

"Tonight I've stayed here in my office, crying over James and Lily Potter, while the whole wizarding world was rejoicing, playing with fireworks and drinking to a new tomorrow. Soon they'll forget everything, and they'll go on with their lives, and the moss will cover the heroes' graves. I swear I _won't_ forget, I'll be grateful, every day, for our new-born freedom... and for your love..."

It was not a common wizard's speech. Those words were so precious, they wiped her hesitation away: she understood there was no reason to feel guilty. Their fingers entwined, and he nestled in her bosom.

No, she did not believe that people could ever forget all that grief, all those awful years. But the summer sun was rising, it was _already_ tomorrow, and her dreams had turned into reality.

"And after all, we can think they have not _really_ gone. In ten years, we'll have that boy here at Hogwarts."

THE END


End file.
